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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Disneyland 2008 - Day 2

Despite our early night, when the alarm buzzed at 6, only Jason and I hopped out of bed. Andrew had waked up during the night with a low grade fever. Lynette kept he and Julia sleeping while Jason and I walked to the local McD's to grab some breakfast. We came back and wrote a couple of postcards before waking up the rest of the crew.

We still got in early, into the park by a quarter after 7.

Our beeline today was for Fantasyland where the rides are short and the lines get huge. Our first stop was the Peter Pan ride which already had a wait of ~10 minutes. It was great magical fun flying over the rooftops of London. To continue the flying theme, we then hopped aboard a flying elephant and rode Dumbo. Julia initially told us that she didn't want to go on Dumbo, but as we left, she begged to go again (which we denied her...for now). Continuing the Dumbo theme, we hopped into the Monkey cage of the Casey Junior Circus Train and rode around the banks of storybook land.

Then we began a tour of Alice's world, first with a Mad Tea Party, then on the back of a caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland.

After a pit stop in the 'white rabbit' bathroom, we got in line for the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Andrew really didn't want to go on these very much, scared at the prospect of a white monster yeti waiting to get him. We tried to assure him that he'd be perfectly safe and the speed and fun would be a lot like his new favorite Splash Mountain, but he was still nervous. Even as we came out, he said the ride was "good and bad"...he liked the speed and had fun, but he was scared of the monsters.

After Matterhorn, we decided it was high time we went to meet Mickey, so we packed up our strollers and stuff and pushed into Toontown. Seeing a lengthly line at Mickey's house, we decided to quickly look in Minnie's house and then hop in line. The kids all made a wish in Minnie's wishing well and then we hopped into the line to see Mickey which extended out to the street and (as we waited) then behind us back to the fountain in the road. We were happily surprised when it turned out that Mickey was NOT taking guests in his movie barn out back, but rather...in his living room. Which cut our anticipated wait down from nearly and hour (or more) to only about 15 minutes. We got pictures and autographs with Mickey, explored his house, then headed for the world of rodents. The kids romped up and down Chip 'n' Dale's treehouse and then we hopped on Gadget's Go Coaster. After that, we played for a few in Donald's Boat.

At about this point, Andrew was wearing down again and his fever was coming back. Lynette gave him some Motrin and walked he and Jason around Toontown for a bit while Julia played in Goofy's garden. I was kind of bummed to see Goofy's Bounce House become just another "normal" toon house, but Julia still had fun. The garden was setup with a slide and a few boxes and vegetables to climb through and over. After playing for about 10 minutes, shouts of excitement came roaring through the garden, and the next thing I knew, Goofy bounded through with a trail of kids and parents behind him. I got some video (Lynette had the camera & autograph book) of Julia with Goofy and she thought it was great that we ran into him.

She and I looked around Toontown for the rest of the fam to let them know...we got a little distracted with the fire house and the gag factory and the dog pound and all the other fun toontown buildings. But we eventually found the fam and showed them Goofy...by now he had led his trail of kids out to the firehouse and then to the gazebo in front of city hall.

Andrew was doing a bit better, but still a bit worn. We thought to try a bite of food and some liquid. We dropped in at Village Haus in Fantasyland. Believe it or not, in all my trips, I've never eaten there. I don't know why...I guess I thought it was some strange bavarian food not likely to be enjoyed by young children. However, it was standard american faire in a great atmosphere. The portions were great and the seating was good. Pricing was up there, but so is everything in the park. I definitely give this eatery and "A."

After lunch, Andrew was begging for Splash Mountain so we said we'd check the line length and ride it if it was short enough, otherwise it was time for a cool down in the motel. The line had a wait of ~80 minutes, so we started back 'home.' Another photo pass guy caught us at the Rivers of America and got some shots of us fighting (and then running away from) Captain Hook...hopefully they turn out well (and reasonably priced) so I can show you.

We spent a little over an hour relaxing in our room. Nobody really slept, but everybody relaxed and felt a bit better.

Back in the park, we first checked fast pass times for the Indy ride...even though it was only ~2, the fast pass return time was between 10:30 and 11...later than we hoped to be out with the kids. So we marked it for tomorrow and then went to Fantasyland. We grabbed a fast pass for Buzz and then hopped on Star Tours (after a quick meet and greet with Buzz himself). All three of the kids loved Star Tours. I had heard they were giving the ride an 'upgrade', but it looked the same to me so I'm pleased to say that if they did change anything, it's nothing distracting. :)

As we popped out of Star Tours (be sure to add a good 10-20 minutes after nearly every ride for time in the accompanying shop and/or a bathroom break with the kids), we continued circling Tomorrowland. Jason wanted to go see the "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" show...Andrew wasn't up for it...so Jason, Julia and I hit the movies while Lynette and Andrew hit the bathrooms and grabbed a fast pass for Autopia.

After the movie, we all took a "fruit break" with some fresh fruit snacks and fruit juice. At this point, Andrew really started melting. He literally looked like he was wilting on the bench in front of us, but he was shivering if he was in shadow. Lynette got some more fever breaking meds in him. It was our fast pass time for Autopia, so we tried it. He seemed to have fun, but he was melted down completely afterwards. After talking with him, he wanted to go back to the hotel with Lynette and rest while Jason, Julia and I kept going a bit longer.

Jason, Julia and I rode Snow White's Scary Adventures and then our fast pass time came up for Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. Julia managed to beat Jason by a score of ~11k to ~8k. He complained about her getting lucky shots. ;)

Since it was dinnertime, we hit Rocket Redds Pizza Port...there was "no waiting" for pizza slices as opposed to pasta, so we hit the pizza counter..and waited for half an hour for them to get plain cheese pizza up (they kept sending up pepperoni or combination or hawaii, but the kids wanted plain cheese). So by the time pizza was there and eaten, everybody was tired.

We headed for home, consoled Andrew and Lynette...and went to bed to dream of the next day.